This invention generally relates to telecommunication service and, more particularly, to a device that automatically forwards telephone service upon detecting a triggering event, such as receipt of a wireless telephone within a socket defined by the device.
In recent years, telephone networks have been installed throughout most of the industrialized world. Initially, this telecommunication infrastructure was implemented through a land-based or landline system known as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The landline PSTN transmits telephone calls over land-based lines, such as copper wires and fiber optic cables. Communication devices that operate in the landline PSTN, such as telephones and other devices that have telephone equipment within them, are typically referred to as landline or wireline units or telephones.
More recently, a wireless telecommunications infrastructure has been installed in addition to the previously existing landline PSTN. Although these two systems are functionally integrated, there remain some important distinctions. First, wireline units typically remain stationary because they are tied to land-based telephone lines. Wireless units, on the other hand, typically travel from place to place with the owner. For example, many wireless units are configured for installation in automobiles and others are configured to be carried on one""s person. Second, wireline telephone service has not traditionally included time-based charges for many services, whereas wireless telephone service has typically involved time-based or xe2x80x9cair timexe2x80x9d charges for virtually all uses of the wireless telephone.
Specifically, landline telephone service has not traditionally involved time-based charges for received telephone calls. In additional, local landline telephone service has traditionally been provided on a flat-rate basis, which avoids time-based charges for local originated telephone calls. The result of these landline billing policies is that only originated long-distance telephone calls have traditionally involved time-based charges in the landline PSTN; local telephone calls and received long distance calls have not traditionally involved time-based charges. Wireless telephone service, on the other hand, has typically involved time-based or xe2x80x9cair-timexe2x80x9d charges for virtually all uses of the wireless telephone. This usually means that receiving a telephone call on one""s wireless unit is a more expensive option than receiving the same telephone call on a wireline unit.
The practical result of these differences in wireline and wireless billing practices has been to encourage many people to receive telephone calls on wireline units whenever possible, and to use their wireless units only when landline service is unavailable. For example, to save air-time charges, some subscribers may ask calling parties to call them first at a landline telephone number, and if they don""t answer, then them try them at a wireless telephone number. In addition, if a wireless telephone call is received while the called party is near a landline telephone, the called party may ask the calling party to hang up and a call back on the landline telephone.
Many telephone service subscribers find these practices cumbersome because calling parties must know multiple telephone numbers for reaching the subscriber. In response, telephone service providers have offered xe2x80x9cpersonal numberxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cone numberxe2x80x9d telephone services, which allow calling parties to dial a single telephone number to reach a subscriber on a predefined set of wireline and/or wireless telephones. To implement this service, the telephone service provider takes control over all telephone calls directed to the subscriber""s xe2x80x9cone number,xe2x80x9d and rings the calls on the various telephones in a predefined order. That order may vary based on the time of day, day of week, and other factors, such as whether a particular wireless unit is powered on, whether a particular wireless unit is present in a particular location, whether a particular wireless unit has been placed in its battery charger, and so forth. For example, the subscriber may instruct the service provider to ring an incoming telephone call first on the subscriber""s wireline, and if that unit is not answered, to ring the call on the subscriber""s wireless unit.
While this type of xe2x80x9cone numberxe2x80x9d service is effective at reducing air-time charges, it has a number of drawbacks. First, the service provider must be given advance notice of all of the directory numbers for trying to reach a particular subscriber. Although the subscriber may give the service provider several wireline directory numbers where the subscriber is frequently located, such as home and work, the xe2x80x9cone numberxe2x80x9d service will not be able to reach the subscriber on wireline units at other locations that the subscriber visits less frequently. Second, calling parties often experience delays while the service provider rings at a first location, then at a second location, an so forth. Third, taking control over incoming telephone calls occupies telecommunication resources and, as a result, xe2x80x9cone numberxe2x80x9d service typically involves a premium charge.
To overcome these disadvantages, telephone service providers may offer simplified telephone call forwarding. For example, some wireless telephone service plans allow a subscriber to easily forward telephone service using a predefined code, such as xe2x80x9c*71+forwarding number.xe2x80x9d The forwarded wireless service can later be unforwarded using another predefined code, such as xe2x80x9c*72.xe2x80x9d This allows the subscriber to quickly forward incoming wireless telephone calls to a wireline unit while the subscriber is located near the wireline unit. When the subscriber leaves the area, he or she can quickly unforward the wireless telephone service.
Although this type of simplified call forwarding service has certain advantages, many wireless subscribers fail to use it effectively. In many cases, the subscribers simply fail to take the time to learn the forwarding and unforwarding codes. In other instances, subscribers may forget to enter the required forwarding code. And in other situations, it may be inconvenient for the subscriber to ask for or look up the telephone number of a wireline unit where the subscriber is temporarily located. That is, many people won""t go to the trouble of forwarding their wireless telephone service if they have to look up or ask for the forwarding number. As a result, even simplified forwarding services are used most often with wireline directory numbers that the wireless subscriber has memorized.
Accordingly, there is a need for even more convenient ways to temporarily forward wireless telephone service. In particular, there is a need for convenient ways to forward wireless telephone service to wireline units in locations that the wireless subscriber visits infrequently.
The present invention meets needs described above in an automatic telephone service forwarding device. For example, the device may include a base or enclosure defining a socket into which a subscriber may insert a wireless telephone. Upon detecting the presence of the wireless telephone in the socket, the device automatically forwards telephone service for the wireless telephone to a previously stored forwarding directory number, typically the directory number of a wireline unit located nearby. Thus, simply placing the wireless unit in the device automatically forwards telephone calls directed to the wireless unit to the nearby wireline unit. The wireless service remains forwarded until the wireless unit is subsequently powered on, which automatically unforwards the telephone service.
To illustrate use of the automatic telephone service forwarding device, a homeowner may obtain one of these devices, program it with the wireline directory number for the home, and place it in a convenient location where people entering the home will see it. Someone entering the home, such as a grown child paying a visit, can place his or her wireless telephone in the device during the visit. This will automatically forward the child""s wireless telephone service to the home wireline directory number. When the visit it over, the child simply picks up his or her wireless unit and powers it on to unforward the telephone service.
The advantage of the automatic telephone service forwarding device is to make forwarding one""s wireless telephone (or another type of telephone device) practically effortless. The wireless subscriber does not have to remember to enter a predefined forwarding code; he or she just places the wireless unit in the automatic telephone service forwarding device. This advantage is even more apparent when the subscriber is visiting an infrequently visited location. In this context, having an automatic telephone service forwarding device available avoids having to ask for or look up the nearby wireline directory number in order to forward the wireless telephone service to that directory number.
The invention may also be incorporated directly into a wireless telephone, rather than in a separate device. In this case, the invention includes a xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d button and a scrollable list of forwarding telephone numbers. To reduce the need to frequently scroll to look for desired forwarding directory numbers, the wireless unit may be programmed to automatically select forwarding telephone numbers from the list based on the time of day, day of the week, and other factors. These automatically selected forwarding directory numbers are made current or focused for immediate selection by pressing the xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d button. Although this approach for implementing the invention requires a certain amount of user manipulation, it does simplify the forwarding process by providing a xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d button and allowing the subscriber to program the wireless unit with a large number of potential forwarding numbers. In particular, the number of scrollable forwarding numbers stored in the wireless unit may be substantially larger than the number of directory numbers accessed through traditional xe2x80x9cone numberxe2x80x9d telephone service. The programmable profile for automatically changing the current or focused directory number also facilitates use of this alternative.
Generally described, the invention provides an automatic telephone service forwarding device. This device receives a forwarding directory number and a device directory number associated with a telephone device. The automatic telephone service forwarding device then detects a triggering event and, in response, automatically transmits a message instructing a telephone redirection device to forward telephone calls placed to the device directory number to the forwarding directory number.
The automatic telephone service forwarding device may receive the forwarding directory number by receiving a programming telephone device within a socket defined by the automatic telephone service forwarding device. The programming telephone device includes a data port that becomes in communication with a data port of the automatic telephone service forwarding device when the programming telephone device is received within the socket. In addition, the automatic telephone service forwarding device receives the forwarding directory number from the programming telephone device through communications over the data ports. For example, the programming telephone device may be a wireless telephone, and the data port of wireless telephone may be a touch-pin data contact. In this case, the data port of the automatic telephone service forwarding device may be a touch-pin data contact positioned to functionally connect with the data contact of the wireless telephone when the wireless telephone is received within the socket.
The automatic telephone service forwarding device may detect a triggering event by receiving the telephone device within the socket and detecting that the data port of the telephone device has become in communication with the data port of the automatic telephone service forwarding device. Similarly, the automatic telephone service forwarding device may receive the device directory number by receiving the telephone device within the socket, detecting that the data port of the telephone device has become in communication with the data port of the automatic telephone service forwarding device, and automatically reading the device directory number from the telephone device through communication between the data ports.
The automatic telephone service forwarding device may transmit the message instructing the telephone redirection device to forward telephone calls placed to the device directory number to the forwarding directory number by causing the telephone device to transmit a forwarding message to the telephone redirection device on an overhead data channel associated with a wireless communications network. In this case, the forwarding message includes the device directory number, the forwarding directory number, and an instruction indicating that the telephone calls placed to the device directory number are to be forwarded to the forwarding directory number. In addition, the telephone redirection device may be a home or visitor""s location register in which the telephone device is registered for telephone service.
Alternatively, the automatic telephone service forwarding device may transmit the message instructing the telephone redirection device to forward telephone calls placed to the device directory number to the forwarding directory number by placing a telephone call to another type of telephone call redirection device. In this case, the automatic telephone service forwarding device transmits the device directory number, the forwarding directory number, and an instruction indicating that the telephone calls placed to the device directory number are to be forwarded to the forwarding directory number during the telephone call.
In addition, the telephone redirection device may include automatic call redirection equipment that receives the forwarding directory number and enters a flag into a home location register for the wireless unit indicating that an associated home mobile switching office is to request routing instructions from the automatic call redirection equipment for any telephone call subsequently received for the wireless unit. The automatic call redirection equipment typically implements this feature by emulating a visitor""s location register. The automatic telephone service forwarding device typically communicates with the automatic call redirection equipment by addressing a Short Messaging Service (SMS) message to the automatic call redirection equipment. Alternatively, the automatic telephone service forwarding device may communicate with the automatic call redirection equipment by placing a telephone call to the automatic call redirection equipment.
According to another aspect of the invention, the automatic telephone service forwarding device may be integrated into a wireless telephone. In this alternative, the automatic telephone service forwarding device receives the forwarding directory number through keystrokes or voice commands entered into the wireless telephone. In similar fashion, the triggering event may be a keystroke or voice command entered into the wireless telephone. Specifically, the automatic telephone service forwarding device may include a scrollable list of potential forwarding directory numbers programmable into the wireless telephone through keystrokes or voice commands entered into the wireless telephone. The automatic telephone service forwarding device may also include a xe2x80x9cforwardxe2x80x9d button for receiving a command instructing the wireless telephone to automatically transmit the message instructing the telephone redirection device to forward telephone calls placed to the device directory number to a potential forwarding directory number selected from the scrollable list. The automatic telephone service forwarding device may also be configured to automatically select certain potential forwarding directory numbers in accordance with a predefined time-based profile.
The invention also provides a method for automatically forwarding telephone service. This method includes providing an automatic telephone service forwarding device with a forwarding directory number. The device then detects that a data port of the device has become in communication with a data port of a telephone device. In response, the automatic telephone service forwarding device automatically transmits a message instructing a telephone redirection device to forward telephone calls placed to the telephone device""s directory number to the forwarding directory number.
The telephone redirection device later detects that the telephone device has entered a reactivated condition. In response, the telephone redirection device unforwards the telephone service for the telephone device. In particular, the telephone redirection device may detect that the telephone device has entered a reactivated condition by receiving an autonomous registration or call origination message from the telephone device. Alternatively, the telephone redirection device may detect that the telephone device has entered a reactivated condition by receiving a predefined unforward message from the telephone device.
That the present invention improves over the drawbacks of the prior art and how it achieves the advantages described above will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments and the appended claims and drawings.